French retail giant Carrefour is said to quit the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.
Sources said recently that Carrefour, the biggest retailer in the world and the second-biggest one in Europe, was considering selling business in both the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. The plan was still in an initial period, thus it had not hired any banks for this.
George Plassat, president of it, declined to make a direct comment on the report, adding that it determined a long-term investment strategy in the Chinese market and would maintain a growth speed of opening about 20 stores there per year.
Actually, there had been such reports prior to this one and for instance, sources said last year that the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) wanted homegrown retailer China Resources Vanguard Co., Ltd. to take over business of Carrefour in the Chinese mainland. Another was that Carrefour planned to sell business in the market to Chinese food giant COFCO Co. Ltd., but the deal was laid on the table finally. As for the reports, George Plassat denied them firmly at a press conference held for financial results for the first half of the year.
Available data shows that it has a total of 220 stores in the Chinese mainland currently, compared to 218 ones as at the end of 2012. Judging from the figures, it grew slowly in the market in the past about six months. An executive responsible for public relations at it for the China region, said that it had no plan to open a shopping center or foray into the ecommerce sector in the market currently. In line with industry observers, this indicates that it has no plan to expand investment in the market.
Actually, almost all foreign retailers have slowed down expansion in the market. Statistics show that Wal-Mart Stores, the biggest retailer in the world, opened 30 stores there in 2012, compared to 43 ones a year ago. Carrefour opened 18 new stores there in the year, compared to 29 ones a year earlier. Last year, Wal-Mart Stores, Tesco and Carrefour each shut down five, five and two stores there. And in the year, foreign retailers closed a total fo 26 stores there.
An industry observer pointed out that Carrefour quit the Hong Kong market in 2000 and since then, it had quit markets including Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Switzerland, Russia, Singapore, Malaysia and Columbia in succession. It always entered a market when supermarket business mode grew fast there and quit it when the business mode suffered a slowdown. Considering this, there would be great possibility for it to quit the Chinese market.
